


Museum

by marikunin



Series: Sehnsucht [6]
Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra, Avatar: The Last Airbender, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Alternate Universe - Avatar & Benders Setting, Canon Autistic Character, Canon Character of Color, Canon Disabled Character, Gen, Modern Era
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-01
Updated: 2017-01-01
Packaged: 2018-09-14 00:47:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,116
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9149236
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/marikunin/pseuds/marikunin
Summary: There are entire museums dedicated to the Avatar.





	

“Welcome to the International Museum of Avatars Lost and Found…ahem…the Manhattan branch. I am George and I am also your guide. Together we will enter a world of history…”

Mary tuned out the tour guide. Her 10th grade history class was taking a early fall field trip to the museum, and the monotone guide sounded as if he’d died inside long ago. Or that he really needed a shot or two of expresso. Poor guy. She had learned of her identity as the Avatar when she was eight, but had only started her earthbending training a few weeks ago when she turned 16.

“Mary, come on!”

She nodded, joining her class. She wished she could wander on her own, but ‘free time’ wasn’t for another hour and a half. The museum was just as big as the Museum of Natural History or the New York Public Library. The main lobby was filled with tourists, other classes on school trips, and the occasional local artist armed with a sketchbook and pencils. They had just gotten their tickets and were following the 40 something year old guide into the first wing of the museum; it was the one on how the Avatar cycle began. At least, it was as far as modern archaeology could trace said cycle. If one wanted to see various religions theories on how the cycle started, you’d have to go to one of those niche religious “museums” in the Southern states or perhaps one of the various holy places overseas.

Of course, Mary hadn’t been to any of these said holy places. Not yet, anyway, since she knew she was the Avatar. Assuming she was able to complete her training and be one of the Found Avatars, the various places held sacred or made so by her predecessors would surely be in her future itinerary of travels. Right now, her class was meandering around exhibits of what scholars thought ancient Avatars would be like. Some Mary felt a strange twinge of familiarity, but others were almost laughable. 

Like, an Avatar having a woolly mammoth animal guide? Everyone who really studied history knew that most woolly mammoths died out around 10,000 years ago and the remaining remnant lasted on a tiny island until 1650 BCE. Whereas the Avatar around 1650 BCE was, according to scholars and previous Avatars, a young Kanuri girl that lived in the Bornu empire in Central Africa and died in her 70s in obscurity as did most Avatars during history. Meanwhile, woolly mammoths became extinct on an island in the Arctic Ocean.

“Fucking amateurs…”  
  
Okay, so Mary was a complete nerd. That, and she’d started reading up on Avatars as soon as her identity was told to her. At least the White Lotus people were kind enough to give her some thick texts to study. As her class passed through the hall that separated the Avatars BC and the Avatars CE or AD. Thusly, there was an exhibit on Jesus of Nazareth but it was more historical than religious. It was quite interesting. Mary was only used to seeing the religious view of Jesus.

An entire hall was dedicated to the Lost Avatars. So many died obscure lives, or as children. One even died in infancy, the only memorial being a small statue of an infant in a cradle reaching up towards the ceiling. She figured that the lamp shining down was meant to represent hope or some cheesy thing like that. The baby didn’t even have a name, as the culture he’d lived in didn’t name their children until a year or two into their life.

Thankfully, the Avatars during the Common Era had more information about them. There were some exhibits on the spirits as well, and on the animals that people learned bending styles from. There were also items on loan or given as gifts from the Order of the White Lotus, various universities, and private collectors. Mary relaxed only slightly when their teacher told them that they had an hour of free time to explore the museum and gift shop before leaving. She turned around, going back into the Hall of Lost Avatars. 

Maybe it was that the majority of her past lives were honored in this hall, or that she knew what it was like to be ignored…but Mary liked it there. It was completely empty now, as the Hall of Found Avatars (all four of them) were the biggest visitor magnets. Her sneakers echoed against the tiled floor highlighting the emptiness of the room. If she just walked a few feet away, she’d be surrounded by crowds talking, taking photos and the tour gudies leading their respective groups. But here…

Mary dropped her hand from where it was trailing on the wall. There was some dried flakes of paint on her hand. She went to wipe them off, but then saw a statue that she hadn’t noticed before. It was shorter than her but still life sized. It was sitting all alone in a corner with just a simple plaque below it. There was even some dust on it.

'To the memory of a Lost Avatar girl. An Ipiutak waterbender that died of an infection due to an accident at the age of 6.’  
  
Mary looked up to the statue’s face, and blinked. She could see every detail of the bronze highlighted by the light. For some reason, she had an urge to touch the plaque. She had had only three earthbending lessons so far, but this she could probably do without leaving any DNA evidence….

S I A R U T

She bent up and quickly looked from side to side. No one was there, and the camera was facing the majority of the hall, not the little corner she was standing in. Mary sighed in relief then left the hall. She felt “out there” a few more times in the Found Avatars halls. Avatar Jeanne d'Arc’s armor…the calligraphy written by Avatar Li Yingzhen…even Avatar Amparo’s traditional chullo hat made from llama wool. She finally began to feel “right” when she entered the gift shop. 

The next morning, the statue that had Siarut’s name newly carved on the plaque was all over the news, though experts wouldn’t find any DNA evidence or camera footage. The fact that they weren't able to get rid of the carving was taken as as a sign from the spirits. And now there were several historians that were planning to write books on Siarut, and the other child Avatars that were Lost to time.  
  
(Not so Lost anymore…)  
  
Mary smiled at the girl’s voice echoing somewhere inside her, and continued eating her breakfast.


End file.
